


Hold On To Me, Cause I'm a Little Unsteady

by loveisallyouneed21



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s06e13 Start Spreading the News, Feelings, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25094917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveisallyouneed21/pseuds/loveisallyouneed21
Summary: David comes to terms with his conflicting feelings about his parents, with some help from Patrick.
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 2
Kudos: 120





	Hold On To Me, Cause I'm a Little Unsteady

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the song Unsteady by X Ambassadors (a song that always makes me cry) 
> 
> Takes place during Season 6 Episode 13

David tries to stay and finish dinner with his family, but he is so upset he can’t even finish eating his pizza, which scares him. He comes up with a simple exit strategy and pulls out his phone to implement it. 

David clears his throat and tries to keep the emotion out of his voice; “Um I just got a text. Patrick says he needs me to come over. He’s upset about some family issue he is having. I better get going.”

“Fine. Fine. That’s all fine. Tell Patrick we say hello.” Johnny states before returning to his pizza. 

David looks to his mom, but finds that she has ensnared Alexis in a conversation about the details regarding Sunrise Bay. David turns to leave the room when Alexis’ eye catches his. She sends him a look and he thinks she might know the real reason he is heading to Patrick’s. He shakes that thought from his head and decides to deal with it later grabbing the car keys on his way out the door. 

David pauses outside the apartment before plastering a smile on his face and swinging open the door. 

Patrick looks up from his book and smiles softly at David. “Hey, how did dinner go with your family?” 

David shrugs it off, “Same as usual. My dad says hi.” 

Patrick nods and returns to his book. David starts his nighttime routine of getting ready for bed, but he keeps getting distracted looking at Patrick and trying to determine how he is feeling. He worries that even after their conversation that Patrick isn’t happy with the idea of moving to New York. 

David climbs into bed and cuddles up to Patrick. They sit in silence while Patrick finishes his chapter. Normally David would say it was a comfortable silence, but his head was swirling with emotions. Patrick puts down his book and turns off the bedside lamp before lying down and pulling David close. Patrick begins tracing soft patterns with his fingertips over David’s skin, as he does most nights.

David can feel Patrick’s breathing even out and hear Patrick’s cute little snores fill the room. This is a fairly normal night for them, Patrick usually falls asleep first and David lies in his arms enjoying being held by the man he loves until he falls asleep. 

Though tonight David can’t settle. David lays there for what feels like hours, but he can’t be sure. He eventually gets up and paces around the apartment, trying to shake off this weird feeling, but when that doesn’t work he crawls back into bed. He lays down so his back is facing Patrick and tries to take some calming breaths, but it’s not long until he can feel the hot tears streaming down his face. 

Patrick rolls over and rubs his hands against his eyes wearily. Before he turns back over to fall back asleep he hears an odd noise. In his sleepy haze it takes him a moment to realize that the noises are coming from David, it sounds like he is sniffling. Patrick curls his arm around David’s waist and rests his hand over David’s heart. He can feel David’s chest heaving up and down, so he pulls in even closer and presses a kiss to the back of David’s neck. 

“Hi baby,” Patrick whispers, “what’s going on?” 

David tries to compose his voice and replies, “Nothing, go back to sleep.” 

Patrick gently uses his hand on David’s chest to turn him over so David is lying on his back. He raises his hand up to cup David’s cheek and says, “This doesn’t look like nothing. “

David shudders and says, “Really I’m fine. Today just had a lot going on, you know?” 

Patrick reaches up to comb his fingers through David’s soft hair. “Actually I don’t know. Can you tell me what’s upsetting you?” 

David sighs, “I was just very emotional today. I thought I’d gotten all my crying out. My dad made some comment about how the motel won’t be our home for much longer, and then Stevie told me she’s not going to New York, then my parents drop this bombshell that they are actually moving to California and I just felt overwhelmed like everyone I love is getting split up in different directions.” 

David gasps for breath and Patrick returns his hand to his chest rubbing soothing circles. 

“It just felt like everything was changing and I wanted it to stop and then I realized nothing had really changed when my mom announced that she was planning on leaving for California on our wedding day.” David can see Patrick cringe at that statement but he plows on unable to stop talking. “And all of a sudden I was just hit with this overwhelming pain because of how stupid I am. Really by now I should expect this. When am I going to stop being surprised by my parents lack of attentiveness, fuck, when is it going to stop hurting this much?” David turns further into Patrick and muffles his sobs against his chest. 

Patrick gathers David closer and rubs his hands up and down his back. He isn’t entirely sure what to do next. He obviously knew that this was a pattern for the Rose parents, thinking back to when they forgot David’s birthday. He also knew it was a pattern for the Rose parents to overshadow their kids, like at David’s engagement announcement. 

The thing is David never talked about how he felt about it. Their dinner plans ended up taking precedence over his parent’s forgetting his birthday. And when they got back from announcing their engagement all David talked about was how he was worried about his mom. 

“Shhh baby, I’m here for you, I’m right here. I’ve got you baby.” Patrick continued murmuring in David’s ear. 

David chokes out, “I just don’t get it. I don’t get how you forget what day your son is getting married. It’s in two weeks. We had the date saved months ago. I hung our wedding invite up in their room. What more could I have done? Why am I not important enough?” 

Patrick continues soothing David, “Love, you can’t blame yourself. It was nothing you did. You are so important baby, so important.” 

David scoffs, “If I’m so important how did they forget my birthday? How do you forget the day your child was born? Your first child! Sorry. I don’t mean to bring past stuff up, it’s just that one stings the most.” 

“You have nothing to be sorry about. You can always express how you feel. This is painful and you have every right to feel upset.” Patrick reassures. 

They remain like this for a long time. Patrick holding David tight and pressing gentle kisses to his head. 

David pulls back slightly to wipe at his eyes before saying, “I’m sorry for waking you up. I should have just told you about this when I first got here, it’s just like you were saying I get flustered when I have too much on my plate and that’s what happened. I was so overwhelmed and I didn’t know what to do, so I did nothing.” 

“Baby I’m going to keep saying it until you believe me. You have nothing to be sorry about. I always want to know how you feel.” Patrick grabs David’s hands and holds them tight. 

David looks at him and nods, but quickly forgets Patrick’s words. “Sorry. I should focus on the positive. They are waiting until the next morning to leave so they’ll still be at the wedding –“ 

Patrick cuts David off by pulling him in for a soft yet firm kiss. “You don’t have to apologize. Your feelings are valid. You don’t need to try and change how you feel.” 

David lies there quietly, looking down at their hands and playing with Patrick’s fingers. Patrick uses his finger to gently tip David’s head up so he can look him in the eyes. “I imagine it must be hard hoping for them to change.”

David closes his eyes and lets out a quiet “Yes.” 

Patrick returns to playing with David’s hair until David opens his eyes. David continues, “I try to remind myself of something an old therapist said. About how we can’t change other people; how the only person you can control is yourself. I don’t know. I’m just going to keep loving them as much as I do, including their flaws, and try to allow myself time to feel upset when they do something that hurts me.”

Patrick’s fingers still in David’s hair before pulling him in for another kiss, he whispers against David’s lips, “I love you.” 

David whispers, “I love you too.” They share one last sweet kiss before David is resting his head on Patrick’s chest and Patrick’s arms are wound around David’s waist. Patrick waits until he hears David’s breathing even out before allowing himself to drift off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I love the Rose family and I love watching how they’ve grown over the years, but this struck a rather personal note for me. I wanted to give David the chance to recognize that it hurts and give him space to feel that hurt. David loves his parents and David gets hurt by his parents, both statements are true.


End file.
